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Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Barely two days
after the guns fell silent on the J-K border, an Army personnel was killed in
firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of Baramulla district last
night.

The Army said
Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) Prakash Chander of 8 Kumaon regiment was
killed when an area-domination patrol of the Army came under fire in Uri sector,
around 120 km from here.

“The firing took place close
to the LoC at the Army’s Bhim post in Uroosa village in which a JCO was
killed,” a Defence official in Srinagar said.

While the Army maintains that
the JCO was killed in firing during patrolling, police sources said they were
ascertaining if it was a ceasefire violation or an attack by infiltrators. “We
are trying to ascertain the facts. But the firing took place from across (the
border) and that is sure,” a source said. The firing took place near the Aman
Setu that connects Kashmir with the PoK. It continued for 15-20 minutes.

URI incident

Junior Commissioned Officer Prakash Chander
of 8 Kumaon regiment was killed when an area-domination patrol of the Army came
under fire in Uri sector last night

Police sources said they were ascertaining
if it was a ceasefire violation or an attack by infiltrators

Defence sources
said that the UAV crashed near Rajal village of Nowshera around 1.45 pm. The
Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry (CoI) to inquire in to the circumstances
leading to the crash of the UAV in thickly populated area.

According to
Ministry of Defence spokesperson in Jammu, "the UAV was on a training
sortie when it suddenly developed some technical snag and crashed in Rajal
village in border district of Jammu.

The Defence
spokesman also clarified that no loss of life or property was reported in the
crash.

Defence spokesman
said, a CoI has been ordered to find out the exact details related to the
crash.

SRINAGAR: Indian
army said one of its soldiers was killed when Pakistani troops allegedly fired
early Monday across the Line of Control (LoC).

The soldier was
killed just after midnight at an army post along the northern part of the
heavily militarised border, an Indian army spokesperson said.

Indian army did
not fire back and instead lodged a protest with the Pakistani army over a
hotline, said the army’s spokesman in Srinagar, Naresh Vig.

“It is a ceasefire violation.
A junior commissioned officer was killed as Pakistani soldiers fired at an
Indian army post in Uri sector at 12:15am,” Vig told AFP.

The incident came hours after
senior officials of the two armies held scheduled phone talks on Sunday aimed
at easing tensions in the region, that has recently seen some of the worst
firing since a ceasefire agreement a decade ago.

Both sides have accused each
other of violating the truce agreed in 2003.

India’s Border Security Force
said last week that 50 frontier posts had been targeted in an escalation of
small arms firing and shelling over the last month – despite public pledges to
reduce tensions there.

Pakistan, in turn, accused
India of killing a Rangers soldier and two civilians last Wednesday during
firing and injuring 26 civilians.

NEW DELHI: Defence
minister A K Antony on Monday asked the armed forces to maintain "a
high-level of alert" along the border with Pakistan, even as yet another
Indian soldier was killed in firing across the Line of Control (LoC) in the
early hours of the day.

In the backdrop of
tensions along the 778 -km LoC easing a little, with no major ceasefire
violation being reported over the last few days, Antony reviewed the situation
along with national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, Army chief General
Bikram Singh, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne, Navy chief Admiral D K
Joshi and defence secretary R K Mathur.

Though India has
already recorded 236 ceasefire violations this year, the highest over the last
decade, no serious firing incident has occurred across the LoC since the one at
the Mendhar sector on October 23. While 184 of the violations occurred across
the LoC, 51 were recorded along the 198-km stretch of the international
boundary (IB) in J&K.

It is still not
clear whether the junior commissioned officer killed in the Jhelum Valley
region in the Uri sector in the early hours of Monday, Subedar Prakash Chandra
of 8 Kumaon, died as a result of firing by Pakistani soldiers or some
terrorists trying to sneak across the border.

"Subedar
Chandra was leading an area domination patrol from our Bhim post when he was
hit in firing of UBGLs (under-barrel grenade launchers) from across the border.
The firing, however, did not originate from the Pakistani Army post in the
area," said an officer.

India has already
conveyed its strong concerns to Pakistan about the major spike in ceasefire violations
in recent months during the weekly hotline talks between the two
director-generals of military operations. While assessing the situation, the
government has kept on hold till now the proposed meeting between the two
DGMOs, which was agreed to during the Manmohan Singh-Nawaz Sharif meeting in
New York last month.

Seeking to
strengthen military ties, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh will be on a two-day
visit to Myanmar starting tomorrow.

Singh will discuss
ways of strengthening military ties with the top military leadership of that
country, Army officials said.

His visit comes
around 18 months after his predecessor went to Naypyidaw to forge stronger ties
with a country which has had strong ties with China.

During the visit
by then Army Chief Gen V K Singh, India had offered to increase the number of
vacancies reserved for Myanmar's gentlemen cadets in the National Defence
Academy (NDA) at Khadakvasla in Pune.

India has also
offered road construction equipment to Myanmar for improving connectivity in
border areas.

In the recent
years, India has been working towards building strong military ties with its
eastern neighbour which started with gifting of two Islander maritime
surveillance aircraft.

India is also
reportedly building highways and bridges in Myanmar to help improve its both
internal and external connectivity.

http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=26281

Spectacular Finale
to NCC National Games

Report by India
Education bureau, New Delhi: Minister of State for Defence Shri Jitendra Singh,
yesterday reviewed an impressive march past presented by the ‘Young Custodians
of the Nation’ at the Garrison Parade Ground, Delhi Cantt which marked theend to the nine days long NCC National
Games-2013. The ceremony was a grand spectacle of pageantry marked with
precision of pulsating energy kindling each heart with pride. The cadets
presented a true picture of aspirational India on their journey to becoming
empowered citizens with sound values inculcated by a common binding force –
‘THENATIONAL CADET CORPS’.

In his address,
the Minister complimented Lt Gen PS Bhalla, DG NCC and entire NCC fraternity
for the impressive conduct of the NCC National Games. He acknowledged the vital
role and commitment of NCC in grooming the future leaders and exhorted the
Cadets to usher in a positive change in society and contribute their best
towards nation building. The Minister as the Chief Guest also distributed
trophies to the winner Directorates of each sports discipline conducted during
the games.He also presented the Overall
Champion Trophy to West Bengal & Sikkim Directorate and the Runners up
Trophy to Maharashtra Directorate.

The Closing
ceremony began with hundreds of yore blossoming cadets performing a
scintillating mass display of Rhythmic Yoga. The versatile cadets then
presented a mesmerizing display of Lezium followed by an energetic Bhangra
performance, a diorama of tribute of National Integration through culture,
music and choreography. A thrilling and daring display by the ‘SARANGS’ –
Helicopter Aerobatic Team from the Indian Air Force and the ‘DARE DEVILS’ –
Motor Cycle Display Team from the Indian Army kept the audience spell bound.
The ‘AIR-DEVILS’ Sky Diving team from the Adventure cell of the Air Force also
presented their magnificent skills.

This was followed
by a smart march past by the participating sportsmen formed into their
Directorate Contingents and led by cadets mounted on their stallions carrying
the National, Services flags and the NCC flag symbolizing ‘Unity and
Integration’. The Para motor display team from the Indian Army with their
magnificent flying skills added to the vibrant and colourful environment.

The NCC National
Games has it’s genesis in the year 1997 when they were held as part of the NCC
Golden Jubilee Celebrations. In the subsequent years, the format was changed to
the conduct of different games at the regional levels.

This year onwards, the games are being
conducted in a centralized format at Delhi, aiming to provide the talented
sportsmen among the cadets a feel of a major sporting event and preparing them
with the requisite match temperament and further their sporting skills. The
games conducted by the Directorate General of NCC were attended by nearly 2100
Cadets from 17 State Directorates representing all the States and Union
Territories and participating in seven sport disciplines which commenced from
19 October 2013 in the national capital.

The Closing
Ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries and eminent guests, including
Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, Chief of the Air Staff, General Bikram Singh,
Chief of the Army Staff and other important Services andCivil high dignitaries.

Exercise GangNeva,
saw both Indian and Russian mechanised troops capture a notional rebel strong
point by fire assault of attack helicopters, tanks and BMPs.

Meanwhile, as part
of preparations to meet challenges from China and Pakistan, India is planning
to lay 14 strategic railway lines close to borders with these two countries to
help in easier and faster movement of troops.

According to PTI,
the railway lines are besides 73 roads being constructed along the Line of
Actual Control (LAC) with China.

Out of the 14
planned railway lines, survey has been completed for 12.

The railway lines
have been planned in Occupied Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and
Rajasthan.

Of the 73 roads
with a total length of 3812 km, laying of 61 roads covering 3,404 km have been
assigned to Border Roads Organisation (BRO). 27 of the 61 roads are being
constructed in Arunachal Pradesh, 12 in Held Kashmir, 14 in Uttarakhand, five
in Himachal Pradesh and three in Sikkim.

The infrastructure
development is being carried out as China has made strides in this regard and
India is lagging much behind.

Indian Defence
Minister AK Antony conceded in Parliament last month that China is
"superior" in terms of border infrastructure as India was late in
deciding on building roads and other capabilities near the LAC because of the
impact of the 1962 war. He had described it as a "collective failure"
of all the successive governments.

INDIA HANDED OVER
26/11

DOCUMENTS TO
PAKISTAN

India handed over
to Pakistan five key documents running into nearly 600 pages for use in the
26/11 case in that country to proceed against seven key accused.

The documents
include the true copy of the Indian Supreme Court judgement of the Mumbai
attack case, deposition by two doctors who conducted the postmortem of slain
nine terrorists and the chief investigating officer who probed the case and
summons to the witnesses.

The two other
documents are proceedings of the Pakistan Judicial Commission, which visited
Mumbai last month, before additional chief metropolitan magistrate and
application for producing the recovered articles from terrorist by the senior
public prosecutor from Pakistan, before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate.

New Delhi had said
it was incumbent on Pakistan to present the evidence in 26/11 attacks as the
planning, training of the terrorists responsible for the strikes and also the
financing was done in that country and therefore, "99 per cent" of
evidence will be available there.

The strong
reaction came after Pakistan Foreign Office said that it requires more evidence
to move ahead in the Mumbai attack case in that country.

These documents
were authenticated copies of the deposition and cross examination by the second
Pakistan Judicial Commission. The documents were handed over to the Pakistan
High Commission on October 15.

Five key documents
handed over to Pakistan in 26/11 case:

The eight-member
Pakistani judicial commission, which included prosecutors and defence lawyers,
had visited Mumbai in September and was allowed to cross examine the witnesses.

The panel's visit
came after the Pakistani court dealing with the 26/11 case had said that
material collected by the commission during its first visit to India in March
2012 had no "evidential value" to punish those involved in the Mumbai
attack as they were not allowed to cross examine the witnesses.

Lakhvi and six LeT
operatives are key accused in the case. They are lodged in the Rawalpindi jail
where the trial by the special court has been marred by delays.